Russian Counterintelligence Agents Clamp Down on Turkish Religious Sect Engaged in Espionage

The Russian Federal Security Service has clamped down on the "Nurjular" religious sect engaged in espionage. On Sunday in an interview to heads of the leading Russian mass media Head of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Patrushev said that the Turkish religious and nationalistic sect was operating in Russia via self-established funds and commercial companies and "was tackling a wide range of intelligence issues." According to him, "it gathered information on events in the North Caucasus, carried out pan-Turkist and pan-Islamist propaganda among young Russians, studied recruitment candidates with the purpose of forming a pro-Turkish lobby in the local governments and infiltrating into law-enforcement bodies and public associations." According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the members of the sect maintained close contacts with Turkey-based organizations providing assistance to bandit formations in Chechnya, including the "Kavkaz" fund. Since the beginning of this year security agencies have tracked down over 50 Nurjular members who operated in Bashkiria (the Ural Region), Dagestan and Karachayevo-Circassia (North Caucasus).

Patrushev added that special services managed to unmask two Turkish citizens in the Krasnodar Territory. They had links with the "Gray Wolves" (Bozkurt in Turkish) nationalists and carried out illegal activities in Russia.